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NBA Power Rankings Week Three

Posted By Eric Pincus On January 16, 2012 @ 4:00 pm In All,NBA | No Comments

1/16/12 – Through Sunday, the Chicago Bulls have won five straight to take over the top spot in the rankings, despite Derrick Rose
struggling with a toe injury. The Miami HEAT fall on hard times as do the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors. The two Los Angeles teams make pushes with both the Clippers and Lakers standing right outside the top five. Are the Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers this good? Where do the suddenly struggling Portland Trail Blazers place? Meanwhile the Washington Wizards still aren’t very good. The NBA three weeks in . . .

NBA Power Rankings Week Three

Rank	Last	Standing	Comments
1	2	12-2	The Bulls have played more road games than just about anyone and yet they have the best record in the league.
2	3	11-2	James Harden has fully settled into the role of third option on the Thunder. Meanwhile OK City keeps winning.
3	7	9-3	Indiana is solid this year and while Danny Granger is no longer the dominant scorer, the Pacers are getting points from seven different players.
4	8	9-3	The Sixers are easily winning games by the league’s largest margin of 15.2 points a game.
5	5	9-4	The Spurs have always been about system and even without Manu Ginobili, the system is working. One red flag, San Antonio 0-4 on the road.
6	9	6-3	Back-to-back wins over the HEAT and Lakers suggest the Clippers may have something substantial going on. Reggie Evans has already made an impact defensively and on the boards.
7	12	9-5	Kobe putting up 40 all week. LA has had a busier schedule than any team in the league but still need to prove they can win on the road.
8	6	8-5	The Nuggets have slowed a bit, losing three of their last five. Should Nene be the team’s fourth-leading scorer?
9	1	8-4	The HEAT have been hit with their first stretch of adversity, dropping three straight as the road wears them down. That and Dwyane Wade struggling through a foot injury.
10	10	9-4	The Hawks have initially survived the season-ending injury to Al Horford (shoulder), but it’s a long (shortened) season.
11	11	8-3	If the Magic are an “elite” team in the East, Dwight Howard could be on this squad through the postseason.
12	13	8-4	Utah is still a mystery, scoring exactly as many points as they’ve let up, beating up on lesser teams but packing in a lot of games in a very short time.
13	16	8-5	The Mavericks have woken up.
14	4	7-5	Portland hit a wall this week with losses against Orlando, at San Antonio and at Houston. The next six of nine are on the road . . .
15	15	6-6	The Knicks are struggling but if they can just keep it together with spit and glue, they’re still a playoff team in the East.
16	19	5-6	Life without Zach Randolph is starting to stabilize for the Grizzlies.
17	22	5-7	There Rockets are improving. The next stretch of schedule should help with seven of nine at home.
18	18	5-6	The Cavs are good. They’re not very good, maybe just average but great but compared to last year’s mess, that’s a major step.
19	14	4-7	The Celtics have dropped four straight with an anemic offense, the last three at home albeit against tough teams (Pacers, Mavericks and Bulls).
20	25	4-7	Andrew Bogut’s return from a personal matter happened, briefly, as he sat the next one with concussion-like symptoms.
21	20	4-8	Last week “Ricky Rubio may actually be for real.”This week – Ricky Rubio is for real.
22	27	4-8	The Warriors will miss Kwame Brown (shoulder) and while a lot of folks may snicker at that notion, it’s true.
23	17	4-8	After hitting .500, the Suns have dropped four straight with Marcin Gortat pulling ahead as the team’s leading scorer (14.3 per game).
24	21	4-9	The Raptors have tailed off from a reasonable 4-5 to 4-9. Seven of the next eight are on the road . . . good luck.
25	26	3-10	Greg Monroe has very quickly become the Pistons best player.
26	23	4-9	The Kings are getting outscored by 11.5 a game and play six of the next eight on the road.
27	24	3-10	Perhaps Byron Mullens in the starting lineup in place of Boris Diaw’s versatility helps the Bobcats find a way to stay in games.
28	28	3-9	The Hornets are better than their record, but given the team’s chance at two lottery picks this June, that may be somewhat by design.
29	29	3-10	The Nets are having a hard time given their heavy road schedule (nine games) but they’re also a win-less 0-4 at home.
30	30	1-11	The Wizards did win a game this week.

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